From the pen of the best-selling author, James Patterson, comes Death in Scarlet.  Forming part of the Women's Murder Club series seen on television, this title is based on a series of murders that seem to have a Chinese connection.  Using the original plot and storyline created by Patterson, I-play and Floodlight Games have produced a mixture of Hidden Object sequences, C.S.I. style adventure action and crime solving detection with this game.

Back in the Dark Ages before Corvid, lockdowns and the advent of telephone scammers and the like, gaming was a less trusted world.  Any game, purchased legally with our hard earned cash, would often require the entry of a specific serial number as part of its installation process in order for the game to be able to run on your computer.

Over the years Ravenhearst Manor, located near Blackpool, has built up a reputation of being a house of mystery.  Recent evidence has come to light regarding one of the house's residents with the discovery of a diary written by Emma Ravenhearst who took up residence and lived in the house during August 1894.  Even with numerous pages missing from the diary, this document piques the interest of the Queen of England.

Developed by MD Studio, Cave Quest Deluxe describes itself as a Match-3 game.  But this only covers part of the delivered action that will face you when tackling this game.  There is a multi-layered environment to explore with collections of items to find, shopping expeditions to be conducted, monsters to fight and family members to be rescued in order to complete this Cave Quest Deluxe offering.

Back in my youth, a popular entertainer of that period often featured a song entitled "Bring me the moonlight".  I mentioned this merely as a lead-in to the next game title under review which is entitled Moonlight.  Actually the game's full title is Magic Encyclopedia Moonlight but I will stick with just Moonlight to save on the wear & tear of my typing fingers.

With a ready supply of garlic and a silver cross at hand in case it is needed, Go Games invites you to enter the virtual domain of Vampire Saga.  This particular excursion is to Welcome you to Hell Lock, a place earlier known as Hill Lock until some graffiti artist could not resist the temptation of alter a single letter.

Taking you back to school, but one with a difference, is the Green Sauce Games developed "Secrets of Magic 5".  As you have probably already surmised, this is not a normal school environment but one that is dedicated to the learning of magic skills and the spells that are required to make use of these skills.  This excursion comes packaged as a Match-3 game based around the activities of two of the school's more experienced students, namely Victoria and Beatrix.

Stepping back in time (that's virtual time not the real version) to the period of Chinese Emperors, fire-breathing dragons and Shaolin monks, Digital Quarter brings us the Shaolin Mystery of the Tale of the Jade Dragon.  This game, which is downloadable from Big Fish Games, forms part of the Black Lime series of titles and is categorised as an Hidden Object Adventure offering.

Escape the Museum, developed by GOGII, combines elements of adventure action within a Hidden Object game play structure.  In this game, available as part of the Click & Play banner, you are cast in the role of a mother named Susan Henderson.  You are employed at the Natural History Museum and on this fateful day you decide to take your daughter, Caitlin, with you to learn more about the museum and its exhibits as a special treat.

Developed by OUAT, Danger Next Door is a Hidden Object game that is available for both Windows and Mac formats.  Rather than take up space on your hard disk, the Windows version of the program runs from its DVD media as it continues the escapades of the novelist Miss Teri Tale. As usual with game of this type, you can create profiles to record the progress of individual players.

Let me introduce you to Samantha Swift.  This young lady is an archaeologist who loves nothing better than a challenge.  She is also the central character of a series of three titles from the Mumbo Jumbo stable as she tackles the Hidden Rose of Athena, Midas Golden Touch and the Mystery from Atlantis.  These three adventures have come together in a Mystery Trilogy released under the Click & Play banner.

This is the opening sequence dreamed up by Blue Tea Games for the Macabre Mysteries - Curse of the Nightingale game.  I have been looking at the Collector's Edition which comes with a number of bonus items to enhance this Hidden Object Adventure offering.  These bonus items include a bonus chapter, concept art, music tracks, wallpaper and a Strategy Guide.

As the nights draw in and strange sounds seem to emerge from the darkness, it is perhaps time to put your fears to one side and prepare yourself for the night time period.  Offering some light relief in this respect is the appropriately named Halloween Trouble 2.

After creating a profile, adjusting the volume levels for background music and sound effects plus opting for full screen viewing, you are cast in the role of a young woman named Amelie.  The game opens as you receive notification that you have won a free ticket for the maiden voyage of the Seawind, the finest cruise ship ever built (excuse the marketing blurb).

Several different approaches have been used when presenting Hidden Object action within a game.  Generally the concept of cluttered scenes play a main part, as does the presentation of the items that need to be found.  But then various additional ideas could be added to make the game genre stand out from the pack.  This next game adds a scene scrolling feature to some instances of its Hidden Object game play.

Those pesky penguins have made their way on to my review schedule yet again.  This time their escapades are covered in Fantasy Mosaics 49 which is Match Gems latest offering in their nanogram genre.  As if to celebrate the recent time known as Halloween, Fantasy Mosaics 49 bases its nanogram activity in a Haunted Swamp location. The game opens as you receive an envelope containing a map.

While the seemingly expanding Black Friday "sale" offerings tend to grab the headlines, there are other promotions that could deserve your attention. One such offering is that announced by LG regarding a price reduction in its various ear-bud units plus the opportunity to be in with a chance to win an ultimate home entertainment package worth £3,000. The LG earbuds benefitting from this promotion are listed, along with their before and deal prices, in the table below.

While perhaps not as familiar as some names in the world of computer protection, ESET has a well-established reputation for developing protective solutions for customers.  Founded in 1992, ESET is a Slovakia-based company with its current range of products including Anti-Virus, Smart Security and Password Manager plus the subject of this review ESET Internet Security.

With its title of 11 Islands - Story of Love, you might think that this next game was a collection of episodes from a recent television series that managed to be the focus of much publicity recently.  However that is not the case.  Developed by Joyful Software, these 11 Islands and their underlying Story of Love is a Match-3 game rather than a location taken over and seeded with enthusiastic inhabitants by a television company.

Checking back over the last few titles that I have reviewed, there does appear to be strands of similar themes.  While hardly of the Big Red Bus syndrome, I have recently taken a look at a couple of titles featuring pirates and the presence of the Flying Dutchman afflicting damage to other ships.  In both cases the games belong to the Hidden Object genre with a central female character.

Offering to take the player on a virtual trip (no passport or foreign currency required) around the world is a title from Pop Cap's Amazing Adventures series.  As with the other titles in this series, Amazing Adventures: Around the World is a game based on Hidden Object game play.  You are set the challenge of visiting different locations, actual there are 25 locations, as you follow a path pre-set by your favourite Amazing Adventures travel agent for your delectation.

For its next excursion into the area of Match-3 game play, eFunsoft has brought together the stories of the Flying Dutchman with the activities of the cursed Hendrick van der Decken and the female pirate Catherine Ragnor.  The result of this combination is the game of Catherine Ragnor and the Legend of the Flying Dutchman.

Rather than dealing with a single game, this next review features three individual offerings from the catalogue of Pop Cap.  This is the Mystery P.I. collection of three Hidden Object investigation titles  that have been brought together under the Mystery P.I. banner,  These titles are The Vegas Heist, The New York Fortune and The London Caper. In each case the game has been developed by SpinTop Games and follows a similar pattern.

Usually when a game arrives on a DVD to be reviewed, the product sets about installing itself on a hard disk.  In most cases you also get an icon on your desktop to launch the game.  But The Great Gatsby takes a different route as I settled down to review this I-play developed game. Forming part of a Classic Adventure series, The Great Gatsby is a Hidden Object game with a few additions.

Casting you in the role of Eve Witheby is the iWin developed game of Jewel Quest Mysteries - Trail of the Midnight Heart.  Taking you on a journey that includes places such as the Taj Mahal and Old Shanghai, this game covers aspects such as Hidden Object game play, Match-3 challenges and Adventure action as you search for your Uncle Donald.

No sooner had I completed my review of the first two Mystic Diary titles that the third episode of the adventures of the two brothers, Victor and Gustav, arrived on my workspace - alright game space,  Following on from the Lost Brother and Haunted Island, the third instalment is entitled Missing Pages.  As with the first two titles, Missing Pages belongs to the Hidden Object Adventure style of game play. The usual collection of settings and adjustments can be made for this game.

Whenever a Mumbo Jumbo title appears in my review schedule then my thoughts immediately turn to the Egyptian theme series of Luxor with its shooter action.  However Mumbo Jumbo does have other strings to its bow and development output.  One such offering is that of The Mystery Meane Manor which has been classified as a Becky Brogan Adventure. In this game the player is cast in the role of Becky Brogan who is a pupil at the High School of Old Haven.

Developed by Pho3nix New Media and available for downloading from Big Fish Games, Curse of the Pharaoh - Tears of Sekhmet is a Hidden Object game.  As you might surmise from its title, this game is based on one of the so-called curses that Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt were said to use to protect their burial site from the actions of grave robbers and those intent on improving their knowledge of earlier civilisations. In this case the curse is the work of Queen Nefertiti.